1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for providing searchable program guide information and in particular, to systems and methods for providing categorical search results in response to a general search query.
2. Description of the Related Art
The dissemination and playback of media programs has undergone substantial changes in the past decade. Previously, media programs were disseminated either by analog broadcast (conventional, satellite, or cable) or by dissemination of films to movie theaters.
These traditional dissemination and playback means remain in use after the advent of digital technology. However, digital technologies have had a profound effect on the dissemination and playback of media programs.
First, digital technology permitted the use of digital video recorders (DVRs). DVRs, while similar in function to standard analog video cassette recorders (VCRs), provide a number of additional useful functions including live pause, the ability to record one program while playing back another, and the integration of the electronic program guides with DVR functionality (so that the recordation of media programs could be scheduled far in advance).
Second, technology also permitted the dissemination and playback of media programs via the Internet, and with improved signal processing and more and more households with high-speed Internet access (e.g. DSL, fiber, satellite), this method of dissemination and playback has become competitive with traditional means. Dissemination of media programs via the Internet may occur either by simple downloading, progressive downloading or streaming.
For progressive download, a media file having the media program is downloaded via the Internet using dial-up, DSL, ADSL, cable, T1, or other high speed internet connections. Simple downloading downloads the bytes of the media file in any convenient order, while progressive download downloads bytes at the beginning of a file and continues downloading the file sequentially until the last byte. At any particular time during progressive downloading, portions of the file are not immediately available for playback. In some situations, the entire file must be downloaded first before a media player can start playback. In other situations, media players are able to start playback once enough of the beginning of the file has downloaded, however, the media player must download enough information to support some form of playback before playback can occur. Playback is often delayed by slow Internet connections and are also often choppy and contains a high likelihood of stopping after only a few seconds. Downloaded material is thereafter stored on the end-user computer.
Streaming delivers media content continuously to a media player and media playback occurs simultaneously. The end-user is capable of playing the media immediately upon delivery by the content provider. Traditional streaming techniques originated from a single provider delivering a stream of data to a set of end-users. High bandwidths and CPU power are required to deliver a single stream to a large audience, and the required bandwidth of the provider increases as the number of end-users increases.
Unlike progressive downloading, streaming media is delivered on demand or live. Wherein progressive download requires downloading the entire file or downloading enough of the entire file to start playback at the beginning, streaming enables immediate playback at any point within the file. End-users may skip through the media file to start playback or change playback to any point in the media file. Hence, the end-user does not need to wait for the file to progressively download. Typically, media is typically delivered from a few dedicated servers having high bandwidth capabilities.
On-demand streaming media services allow a broad spectrum of media programs to be made available to the user for immediate viewing. One of the challenges in providing on-demand streaming media services is to provide the user with an interface that allows the user to efficiently select which media program they would like to view. In the golden era of broadcast television, a small number of channels were available, and it was a simple matter for the user to simply check each channel or refer to a printed guide. The advent of satellite or cable television multiplied the number of such channels, and provided program guides similar to the printed schedules. However, the number of channels was still relatively limited. The storage capacity of DVRs is such that simple hierarchical menu interfaces permit the user to easily and quickly gain access to recorded programs.
One way to provide the user with information about available media programs is to provide the user with the ability to search a database of available media programs. For example, if a user is interested in viewing a media program known as “The A Team,” the user may enter ‘The A Team’ in an textural input element (using a computer, for example). However, using known search engines (such as those available from GOOGLE or YAHOO, when the user does so, the search engine often returns unwanted results. That is because the search engine regards the terms used in the search query as logically related by ‘and/or.’ That is, the search engine parses out each word in the search query (in this case, “the,” “a,” and “team”) and presents a list that shows the result for [the <and> a <and> team] first, then [the <or > a <or > team]. Further, even if the user were to enter “The A Team” in quotes (indicating they are searching for the term precisely as supplied in the query), such search engines typically ignore terms like “a” and “the.” As a result, the user is provided with unwanted search results.
Further, users may desire to search for media programs by data category, such as the name of the show (e.g. “The A-Team”), the performers portraying characters in the show (George Peppard, Dirk Benedict and Mr. T), or other search parameters. While it is possible to provide the user with an interface with a textural input element for each data category (for example, one to search by the name of the show and another to search by actor) or one textural input element that can be selectably configured to a particular category (e.g. one textural input element and an adjacent down box or radio button that allows the user to select the data category “show name” or “performer” for the search), such interfaces consume valuable space, are inconvenient, and are often ignored by the user.
What is needed is a system and method for a search capability that infers the proper data category from the search request, thus reducing unwanted search results. The present invention satisfies this need.